New BlackBerry 10 beta showcases upcoming OS features

Lackluster financials or not, there's still new hardware and software coming.

RIM has been showing reporters the latest beta of its upcoming BlackBerry 10 operating system, which we first looked at back in May. Today's announcements focused on the operating system's multitasking model and navigation, which RIM is calling "Flow."

Enlarge/ BlackBerry 10's Active Frames are sort of like widgets or Live Tiles, but are actually minimized versions of actively running applications.

First, the multitasking: there's room on the BlackBerry 10 home screen for up to eight of what RIM calls "Active Frames." These are functionally similar to Windows Phone's Live Tiles or Android home screen widgets, but rather than being separate entities they're actually minimized versions of currently running applications. The frames can show either a thumbnail view of the entire app, or a special view of the application designed for the home screen. Because these apps are all currently loaded into memory, switching back to them is quick and seamless.

Enlarge/ BlackBerry 10's home screen is very similar to current iOS and Android home screens.

Standard application icons like you might see on an iOS or Android device are located on another screen. You can switch between "personal" and "work" modes to display different icon layouts and use different security settings—applications from your business can run in the more locked-down "work" mode alongside user-installed "personal" applications. This continues the BlackBerry's tradition of catering to business users while also making concessions to more modern, consumer-driven usage patterns.

Enlarge/ The BlackBerry Hub serves as a notification center of sorts, but it also aggregates all of your various notifications into one always-on application.

The navigation in BlackBerry 10 is heavily gesture-based, beginning with the lock screen: unlocking the phone is done by swiping up from the bottom of the screen, but you don't have to press a button to bring up the lock screen first. Swiping up from the bottom of the screen also switches from the app you're currently using back to the home screen. Swiping up and then dragging your finger to the right exposes the so-called BlackBerry Hub, a messaging app that corrals all of your mail, texts, tweets, calls, and other messages into one place.

In-app navigation is also gesture-heavy: if, for example, you're in an e-mail app and you open an attachment, you can swipe to the right to hide the attachment and see the original e-mail, then swipe again to see your inbox. Swiping up slightly, holding your finger where it is, and then swiping back down will allow you to take a peek at notifications and then go back to using your app.

At this stage, BlackBerry 10's usage model appears to eschew hardware and software buttons in favor of pure touch navigation. If you've been following along, there are quite a few complicated gestures needed to expose all of the phone's functionality. Sadly, these aren't always completely intuitive—for example, swiping down in an empty space on your home screen to switch between "personal" and "work" mode—and these don't seem like they'd be easy to explain to neophytes. Still, the new OS looks promising, and it's RIM's last best hope to pull out of its current death spiral—we'll be keeping an eye on BlackBerry 10 as it progresses toward its early 2013 release.

This is the first time I have ever been intrigued about a Blackberry device. Wish there was at least some speculation on what kind of hardware might be in this thing though. I know it's not looking good for RIM right now but I really hope this device will help them turn it around.

This is the first time I have ever been intrigued about a Blackberry device. Wish there was at least some speculation on what kind of hardware might be in this thing though. I know it's not looking good for RIM right now but I really hope this device will help them turn it around.

Same. I wouldn't even remotely consider a Blackberry phone until this. Hope they can seriously pull this off.

Unless Blackberry gets on board and uses Exchange, it is going to lose almost every corporate take up.

Can you go into a little more detail on this comment, please? I'm not quite sure I understand. I am somewhat inexperienced when it comes to Blackberry but I had the understanding that they did use Exchange (or at least an Exchange connector, such as ActiveSync)?

If you've been following along, there are quite a few complicated gestures needed to expose all of the phone's functionality. Sadly, these aren't always completely intuitive...

You know, I think about the same thing everytime I use an iPad. "How come when I swipe from top to bottom, this thing doesn't turn on???" to "Oh wait, I have to push a button?"

Seriously, if you've used a PlayBook, the gestures aren't difficult. It sounds like the few you've described are new and might take some getting used to, but after half a day, I'm sure most users will have them down. I'm so used to gestures to perform actions that I'm taken aback by touch screen devices that don't use them.

I personally am looking forward to this device, and I better be able to get one in January.

This looks so much like the N9 that I could hug it. As a(the) playbook owner, this looks really cool. I love N9's Swipe interface in Meego, hopefully this delivers in the same departments as the playbook...I'll get on board. God, this post makes me look like a shill lol.

I don't expect anything new here but I wish them superior advancement. I don;t want to see the same rip off features found on Android but unique advancements for the corporate level, or at least I think they are marketing this OS at.

Unless Blackberry gets on board and uses Exchange, it is going to lose almost every corporate take up.

Blackberry enterprise server is an addon to an stock MS Exchange Server. the big pull was the fact that it allowed IT departments to push email to phones using an encrypted connection before Microsoft built in Exchange Activesync to do the same thing RIM has an niche in high security environments due to the server having an strong encryption key that is unique to the server while active sync uses the HTTPS stack from IE to secure with.

Unless Blackberry gets on board and uses Exchange, it is going to lose almost every corporate take up.

Blackberry enterprise server is an addon to an stock MS Exchange Server. the big pull was the fact that it allowed IT departments to push email to phones using an encrypted connection before Microsoft built in Exchange Activesync to do the same thing RIM has an niche in high security environments due to the server having an strong encryption key that is unique to the server while active sync uses the HTTPS stack from IE to secure with.

The unlock gesture itself makes this a no go for me. It practically demands using your phone with 2 hands. I hope they change it in the final release. Different, for the sake of being different isn't good.

I like the gesture heavy interaction, but I think it should be treated as a secondary interface, as opposed to a primary one. I liken it to Keyboard Shortcuts on desktop OSes, which while not necessary at all to use the OS, are great to use once you get the hang of them.

We will see how this pans out. Unlike WP7, BB still has a bunch of loyal fans, so they stand a better chance, IMO. However, I am yet to be convinced that RIM can deliver. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, as they say.

Blackberry enterprise server is an addon to an stock MS Exchange Server. the big pull was the fact that it allowed IT departments to push email to phones using an encrypted connection before Microsoft built in Exchange Activesync to do the same thing RIM has an niche in high security environments due to the server having an strong encryption key that is unique to the server while active sync uses the HTTPS stack from IE to secure with.

The unlock gesture itself makes this a no go for me. It practically demands using your phone with 2 hands. I hope they change it in the final release. Different, for the sake of being different isn't good.

Out of curiosity, why do you think that? It seems to me no different (gesture-wise, that is) than accessing an iPhone's camera from the lock screen, which I can easily manage with either hand.

arcadium wrote:

I like the gesture heavy interaction, but I think it should be treated as a secondary interface, as opposed to a primary one. I liken it to Keyboard Shortcuts on desktop OSes, which while not necessary at all to use the OS, are great to use once you get the hang of them.

I feel the same way, but in my case that may be a bias stemming from familiarity with devices with physical buttons. Of the complaints people had of the PlayBook, I don't recall reliance on gestures usually being high on that list (which may well be damning with faint praise).

This looks so much like the N9 that I could hug it. As a(the) playbook owner, this looks really cool. I love N9's Swipe interface in Meego, hopefully this delivers in the same departments as the playbook...I'll get on board. God, this post makes me look like a shill lol.

From what I've seen so far it does look very much like a Nokia N9 which is a good thing for me since I love my N9. I also picked up a fire sale Playbook since I like the swipe gestures, it's very comfortable going between it and the N9. I hope they implement it well.

So...is BB abandoning built in keyboards? I mean, that is the only reason why I continue to use BB. Otherwise, what is the point?

No, they'll have models with and without.

They made a decision to highlight the units without keypads. I'm waiting for the codename "Nevada", which will be BB 10 with a keypad. There is still a question if it will have all the keys found on a traditional Blackberry. Most of all, will it still have the infrared trackpad. I really hate dealing with a screen full of smudges.

I assume with touch sceens, we have the same risk of cracked glass like the iphone and Android devices.

No keyboard? Arg. I knew this day would come. Guess I'm just going to have to start using swype.

arcite wrote:

So...is BB abandoning built in keyboards? I mean, that is the only reason why I continue to use BB. Otherwise, what is the point?

If there's Swype for BB (or a built in virtual keyboard by RIM) then abandoning physical keyboards is not a bad thing. The few times I've had to use a current BB's keyboard I wanted to throw the phone away because I'm so used to Swype on Android. Argh, I type so much slower on physical. SO SO MUCH SLOWER.

This intrigues me, but if it doesn't have a large number of apps in its marketplace, then what's the point? I'm very reluctant to stay on Android and I don't want an iPhone. This or a Nokia/HTC WP8 are my choices.

I've had my Blackberry Tour (don't laugh) for almost three years now. I'd like to see them make a comeback, but I don't care too much about the brand. I absolutely do not want a touch-only phone if I can help it, so something with an immediately available keyboard AND a touch screen for all their quirks and games like the last Bolds would be ideal.

A hands-free virtual assistant would do it. I'd be sold on Siri if you didn't need to have the phone in your hands. What's the point?

Blackberry enterprise server is an addon to an stock MS Exchange Server. the big pull was the fact that it allowed IT departments to push email to phones using an encrypted connection before Microsoft built in Exchange Activesync to do the same thing RIM has an niche in high security environments due to the server having an strong encryption key that is unique to the server while active sync uses the HTTPS stack from IE to secure with.

Question for any admins out there: is EAS easier to manage than BES?

It's a pain to set up, but management itself is fairly decent, though somewhat maintenance-prone at times. The real problem, in my experience, was the SOHO market and carrier shenanigans. Full BES required special carrier provisioning, in addition to the BES server (which was not supposed to be installed on the Exchange server, natch) - and it wasn't cheap, even for the "Professional" version which was a whole version behind the "Enterprise" version. This made it cost more, and impractically time-consuming to set up for many SOHO setups, especially on Small Business Server. So then, they came out with BIS, which uses server-side account management, but ALSO requires special provisioning. Worse, BIS did allow you to synchronize ordinary Exchange account mailboxes, but not calendars or contacts.

On the other side, with just an SBS, you had ActiveSync with mail, calendar, and contact synchronization and no special provisioning needed.

Is it just me, or does their prototype device look an awful lot like the Lumia 900?

Yeah, but it is just a case - since this is just a Dev Alpha device, I believe they put a case that is cheap/easy to manufacture... What is more interesting are the internals and the nice looking IPS screen (1280x768)

This is the first time I have ever been intrigued about a Blackberry device. Wish there was at least some speculation on what kind of hardware might be in this thing though. I know it's not looking good for RIM right now but I really hope this device will help them turn it around.

The device rumored to be coming out is 16GB of storage, 1GB of RAM, and 1280x720 screen. I didn't see rumors of the processor yet.

This is the first time I have ever been intrigued about a Blackberry device. Wish there was at least some speculation on what kind of hardware might be in this thing though. I know it's not looking good for RIM right now but I really hope this device will help them turn it around.

The device rumored to be coming out is 16GB of storage, 1GB of RAM, and 1280x720 screen. I didn't see rumors of the processor yet.

actually first devices, AKA London, and Dev Alpha are with 1280x768 screen. Later models will be standardized with 1280x720 for full touch and 720x720 for keyboard version...CPU is rumored to be at least 1.5GHz Dual Core...

actually first devices, AKA London, and Dev Alpha are with 1280x768 screen. Later models will be standardized with 1280x720 for full touch and 720x720 for keyboard version...CPU is rumored to be at least 1.5GHz Dual Core...

Thought I read something different, but I defer to someone who appears to know more than I.

I hope they're successful with this device. More competition should result in better products from all vendors.

I agree. And I'm kind of hoping that a 4-way near tie would cause them all to bend and help create cross platform development tools. Making two separate applications is one thing, but building 4 is just too much.

As someone who'd be developing just for fun I'll never go very far out of my way to target more than my own chosen platform. But if there were a good cross platform toolkit I'd happily jump on that.

Does anyone know what will be getting the upgrade? I have an original Torch sitting in my drawer I keep wanting to reactivate. I keep telling myself I don't miss a physical keyboard, but alas sometimes I do.

I really like the way this OS looks, but I don't know I can commit hundreds of dollars on a phone when the company isn't doing so well.

Does anyone know what will be getting the upgrade? I have an original Torch sitting in my drawer I keep wanting to reactivate. I keep telling myself I don't miss a physical keyboard, but alas sometimes I do.

I really like the way this OS looks, but I don't know I can commit hundreds of dollars on a phone when the company isn't doing so well.

No existing device will be getting a BB10 upgrade, other than the Playbook, due to the newer OS. Besides the tablet, BB10 phones will be all-new.